you have to listen into it really hard to know it, as the tone of the recording sounds like the whole thing is being run through an unmodified Ibanez Tube Screamer: all mids, no bass or treble, and a bit of tape flange thrown in for good measure! In the end, I just find it to be too much effort.

I am giving the 5 stars to the show, which is superb. The quality is probably a 3, but, since you can hear the lyrics and guitar, your ear gets used to it. Phil’s sound is muddled a lot of the time. But a top-notch Morning Dew, a Dark Star from the golden age of Dark stars (late summer ’68 –to- mid/late ’69), and Jerry rips into everything. I always like hearing New Potato (though the organ is barely audible).

Nothing rare about this show – there are other good ones from this period that have better sound quality. Still, a great Dead show is a great Dead show.

The Dead’s first-ever show in Ohio and it’s only available on an audience tape that sounds like it was recorded in an empty airplane hangar. Still, it’s a fine example of the band’s raging, crusading, late-68 sound. Definitely worth a listen despite the lousy sound quality. A rare show played without Kreutzmann, who was sick that night. There were apparently only a couple hundred people there.

Jerry’s Gibson echoes and slices around the arena. Dew is a revelation. Schoolgirl absolutely chain smokes, and Pig Pen is at his raunchiest. Dark Star is played fast and flawlessly – a groovy, spacey exploration that packs a lot into 11+ minutes. The opening notes of St. Stephen melt and shimmer.

Mind-blowing stuff. The Other One> Cryptical bit is extraordinary – pure power Dead. If only there were a board of this… Even so, it’s well worth checking this one out. Four stars even with crappy sound.

I swear that sometimes Jerry's guitar playing sounds like some kind of a snarling snapping beast on this show, but then it leans forward and licks your hand!
This recording is kind of like that too.. it's harsh and it's primal sounding for sure, but once you get past the recording quality and make friends with it by standing your ground you are rewarded by a performance with such high musical peaks that Phil Lesh would write about it over 35 years later in his book. The band could do no wrong this night. Primitive recording, excellent show.
Five Stars for the show, three for the recording...Five Stars for the recordist and the folks who transferred it. Thanks!